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GENETICS & ASTROBIOLOGY
Topic In-Depth | Radio Program | General Resources | Origins & Evolution of Life On Earth | Seeking Life Beyond Earth | Extremophiles
Astrobiology is a new, multidisciplinary science joining the fields of astrophysics, biology, genetics sciences, geology and chemistry. New theories and techniques of genetic sciences are allowing researchers to ask some really big questions: What is life? How did it begin and develop? Is life on Earth unique in the universe? Could Earth life exist beyond this plane?
Use these resources to discover what we are finding out about the essence of life and its distribution throughout the universe. Warning: there's more here about microbes than little green men.
Last updated: February 19, 2005
Topic In-Depth
- In order to understand how life began, scientists are attempting to recreate evolution - in a test tube. Read the article (October 2001).
General Resources
Getting Started
- NASA Ames Research Center
The main website for NASA's Ames Research Center, this is the lynchpin for research in astrobiology. Here, you will find research news, NASA Web casts, musings on societal issues, great links and much more. Of special interest:
Astrobiology Roadmap: The goals and objectives of the science of astrobiology. Also fascinating essay on the meaning of life, illustrations, articles.
- National Astrobiology Institute
Key astrobiology research institutions contribute to this site. They include NASA, University of Colorado, Carnegie Institute, UCLA and Harvard, among others. You will find research, teaching tools, a kids' section news and good links. There is also an "Ask the NAI Scientist" feature. Topics include genomics, bioastronomy, and the origins of life.
- The Astrobiology Web. SpaceRef.com
This searchable site from SpaceRef.com has current news releases, resources, and links on a number of astrobiology topics. Topics include planetary protection, life in extreme environments and searching for extraterrestial life. Extensive links include books, films, policy documents, NASA Web casts, usenet discussion groups, science and space news links.
- The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight. David J. Darling
A collection of resources specializing in the quest for extraterrestrial life. Frequently updated, the site includes links for astrobiology research centers, missions, conferences, papers and journals. The site is maintained by David J. Darling, author of of Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology (Basic Books, 2001).
News, Special Issues and Articles
- Abstracts from the Third Astrobiology Science Conference (PDF)
NASA has sponsored several conferences featuring many of the key players in the genetics of astrobiology. The topics covered in these abstracts range from the question of which came first — DNA or RNA or neither — to the challenge of turning mountains of new genomic data into answers about evolution.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Special Issue: Astrobiology. PNAS, January 30 and February 27, 2001, Volume 98 (3 and 5)
Every article in the PNAS special issue on astrobiology is free online. You can read articles on the possibility of life on Europa, protecting against biological contamination, and speculations about the origins of life, and possible life sustaining conditions on other planets.
- Ad Astra: Expanded Astrobiology Edition
Ad Astra is published by the National Space Society, an organization working towards human communities beyond Earth. Ad Astra January/February 1999.
Books, Videos and DVDs
- The Essentials of Biology of the Universe and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life by H. Hartman, J.G. Lawless and P. Morrison. Piscataway, NJ: Research & Education Associates, 2000
A quick study guide prepared at NASA Ames Research Center. This guide includes information on research in biochemistry and the origins of life, as well as the history of relevant research in a variety of fields and suggestions for further reading. Like a "Cliff's Notes" for astrobiology, this guide is small, inexpensive, and useful
- Cosmos (DVD and companion book available from PBS)
The TV series that made Carl Sagan our '"Professor Universe" explores the big questions from the origins of life on Earth, to the possibility of interplanetary travel and extraterrestrial intelligence. The 13-part series premiered in 1980 on PBS. It is avaliable on DVD (Cosmos Studios, 2000). The companion book to the TV series was reissued by Ballantine Books in 1993.
Origins & Evolution of Life on Earth
Online
- Heat-Loving Microbes Offer Clues to Life's Origins
By studying bacteria that survive at high temperatures deep within the Earth's crust, scientists hope to find clues about the life that existed when much of the planet was molten. An easy-to-read overview. Check out the "Related Stories" and "Related Websites" at the bottom of the page.
- Origin Myths, An Introduction. American Museum of Natural History.
- The Architecture of Life. Scientific American, January 1998
This article describes how organic molecules and cells may have evolved from inorganic compounds. (Paid-access article.)
- Earliest Signs of Life Just Oddly Shaped Crud? Science, March 8, 2002
Controversy continues over rocks which some scientists claim are the world's oldest fossils. (Paid-access article.)
Books
- Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution by Lynn Margulis. New York: Basic Books, 1998
The distinguished professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts is a controversial advocate of the Gaia theory of life on Earth. This slim and poetic book summarizes her work on the origins and development of life.
- Life : A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Richard A. Fortey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998
In a deep yet lively read, a paleontologist tells the story of the history of life on earth, incorporating scholarly work and scientific perspective.
- The Fifth Miracle : The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life by P. C. W. Davies. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999
This is an even-handed exposition of theories of the origins of life from a physicist/cosmologist.
- The Spark of Life: Darwin and the Primeval Soup by Christopher Wills and Jeffrey Bada. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2000
An overview of historic and current research in the origins of life. The book includes proviles of contemporary researchers, how they are regarded in their fields, and the nature of their work.
Seeking Life Beyond Earth
News
 Life on Mars NewsWire. MarsNews.com
The latest science on the possibility of life on Mars, plus some good background information. The site is associated with The Mars Society, which promotes government and private funding for exploration of Mars.
- Special Issue: Opportunity at Meridiani Planum. Science, December 3, 2004
NASA's Opportunity rover turned the trickle of evidence for water on Mars into a flood. Why does water matter? It allows for the possibility of microbial organisms living at some point in the red planet's past. (Paid-access site.)
- New site to search for life in space. San Francisco Chronicle, November 17, 2001
A spot in California's Silicon Valley was dedicated for the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Cosmos.
Online
- SETI Science. SETI: Center for the Study of Life in the Universe
The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore and explain the nature, distribution and prevalence of life in the universe, including the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligent life.
- European Space Agency: Darwin Mission
The purpose of the European Space Agency's Darwin Mission is to characterize planetary systems orbiting nearby stars, and to search for signs of life on any Earth-like planets. See what they are finding out there.
- Mars Exploration Rover Mission
Whether you're a student, an educator, or just plain curious, you can learn all you ever wanted to know about NASA's Mars Rovers at this chock-full site.
- Examining the Evidence for Life on Mars
You can read the online book The Quarantine and Certification of Martian Samples (2002) - which is much more interesting than it sounds - on this site from the National Academy of Sciences.
- NASA Human Spaceflight: Mars Image Gallery. Select "Meteorites" for pictures and text about Mars rocks that have ended up in earthling hands - some of which may show signs of long-dead life. Other images in the gallery show what manned missions to Mars might look like.
Books, Videos and DVDs
- The Search for Life on Mars by Malcom Walter. Perseus, Cambridge, 1999
Walter, a paleobiologist at the University of Sydney, is also involved with the NASA's program for seeking life on Mars. He writes that there is a good chance that microbial life has existed on Mars, and that it might still be there. He bases his statements on past and present conditions on Mars, the controversial evidence of Mars life from Martian meteorites, and knowledge of early life on Earth.
- The Search for Life on Other Planets by Bruce M. Jakosky. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1998
Based on an undergraduate course called 'Extraterrestrial Life' at the University of Colorado, geology professor Jakosky introduces the major topics of Astrobiology, both the nit-picky science and the big think questions.
- Life Beyond Earth, a production of KCTS/Seattle with Lark in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises. PBS Home Video, Warner Home Video, Alexandria, VA, 1999
- Life Beyond Earth by Timothy Ferris. Simon and Schuster, New York, 2001
University of California professor Timothy Ferris asks whether we are alone in the universe in this PBS series and its companion book.
- Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology by David J. Darling. Basic Books, 2001
The man behind The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight authored this book which concludes that life might exist beyond Earth.
- Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee. Copernicus, New York, 2000
Two University of Washington scientists explain why life on Earth is an amazing event, which is unlikely to have occured elsewhere in the universe.
- Contact by Carl Sagan, Econo-Clad Books, 1999
The 1997 film Contact stars Jodie Foster as the scientist who receives apparently intelligent radio transmissions from outer space. The film is available on DVD and Video.
Extremophiles
- The First Sequenced Extremophile by Sarah E. DeWeerdt. Genome News Network, February 1, 2002
In a big step forward for the understanding of extremophiles, scientists sequenced the genome of Methanococcus jannaschii, a microbe that lives in submarine-crushing, boiling-hot condititions deep beneath the ocean surface.
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